What difference does a new year make?

As ever this New Year caught me in the usual dilemma of what pointless resolution to follow. Go to the gym is on the list, then other worthy ones like “read the Bible more, go to church more.” Then there are the aspects of your character that are very hard to change. “Be more patient, control my temper.” This is a song I sing every January and usually falter by the months end. Then there are ones which are contradictory, in 2008 I chose to avoid conflict and be honest. So I said I will tell people what I really think while at the same time avoiding conflict. That lasted around a day and caused me so much trouble I gave up on honesty. So this year I have chosen achievable goals, one tangible and the other intangible. Goal 1 is build a house or at least get started. By December 31 I will have to have purchased a piece of land and laid at least one brick. I think that is achievable but it isn’t about the bear minimum, this year is about success and nothing less, baby! I will not just get by any more, I have to get over. Most years I find myself I just hoping for less misfortune than the last, but this year I expect success. Not to be arrogant but one has to believe in themselves and expect the best or they will never be able to deal with success when it comes. What I loved about UK is the self-affirming half-truths people said everyday. “I got a couple things in the pipeline.” or the one I love “I’m doing some consultancy.” Then you come to Kigali and people are truly vague. My friend who is a lawyer was recently asked by a visiting guest of mine. What do you do? I work down the road. Where exactly? Just down here, by the shops. A whole hour would have gone by without him divulging. So in Kigali people aim to lessen the importance of their job, I spoke to a man at a party who just said he worked at a major company when he was the CEO. Probably hides it because people always want favours. That is another issue – favours. I always swear I will do favours for those who really need it and leave out the ones who don’t deserve them. In the end we often do what is convenient, a person’s character is very hard to change, whatever the year. Our thoughts determine actions, actions determine habits, habits determine character and character rarely changes. Most of our resolutions require a major change of character and that is why they fail. So tangible goals are better, so my goals are build my little castle and set up for 2011, every year from now must prepare for the next. That is the only way life can get better, I never want to accidentally bumble through a year and then complain it went badly. The return to Rwanda has slowed my pace of life down, with that came a certain complacency. I want to revive the drive I had in England but in Rwanda, I have started to drag my heels and walk as slowly as locals. This has made every task so slow and I think we would achieve Vision 2020 by 2018 if we just walked faster and were proactive. Why wait for tomorrow to achieve your dreams? Ends